Ben prepares for the weekend of his life!

 

HEROIC soldier, Ben Shaw, who was blinded while on duty in Iraq is gearing up for the weekend of his life.

 

But there will be no quiet preparations for Ben Shaw as he gets set to tie the knot with his Edinburgh sweetheart Louise this Sunday. Instead, he will get behind the wheel of a Ferrari 360 Modena to lap Knockhill racing circuit in front of thousands of fans visiting the Scottish Motor Show.

 

However, perhaps wisely, he said it will not be as big a day as Sunday, when he will again be in the spotlight—albeit before a smaller crowd of just over 100 who will gather to watch him tie the knot with Louise, whom he met on a night out in Edinburgh.

 

The 25 year old soldier lost both eyes when the Land Rover he was driving on a routine patrol near Basra was hit in a roadside ambush in February 2007. Ben lost both eyes and suffered a fracture to his skull but surgeons managed to save his right arm from having to be amputated. He was lucky to survive but incredibly he is now ready to get behind the wheel again for the first time since the explosion 18 months ago. Thanks to a member of our staff Lesley Meikle, at the Scottish War Blinded, Ben's dream of taking to the open road again has become a reality.

 

When Lesley started working with Ben they discovered a shared interest in motorsport, with Lesley’s son Gary working at Knockhill.

Discussions began with Graham Brunton, who has been an instructor at Knockhill since 1989 and has put thousands of enthusiasts—Ferrari fans in particular—through their paces.

 

“Because of my son’s involvement in motorsport, I asked if Ben could be taken around in the two-seater Ferrari,” said Lesley

But Knockhill went one further and offered Ben the chance to drive as Graham said he felt he should not be excluded just because of his disability.

 

“This is a fantastic opportunity. He described himself as a petrolhead and with the younger generation who are our blind beneficiaries it is so important to them to have that independence, so this has been absolutely great. He loved driving and I cannot thank Knockhill enough. What they have done has been fantastic and had gone far beyond what I had hoped for.”

 

Graham, who took Ben out for his first flying test laps, was most impressed by his new protege’s natural ability at the controls.

 

“He is well capable,” said Graham, who will be handing the mentoring job to his brother Alan, as he is attending the vintage Grand Prix in Monaco this week. "I must have sat beside tens of thousands of people in my time and it is all about people being able to take instruction and listen. Some need to hear things a lot of times and others pick it up quickly; some take input well and that makes the job easier. Because of his mechanical background and feel for a vehicle, we are halfway there already. Whether he can see the corners or not, he has ears and he is really listening to us."

 

Perhaps because of Ben’s background in the army, and his love of rallying— where a driver is dependent on his co-pilot to plot his course—he took instruction well and was soon out on the twisting 1.3-mile track, reaching a top speed of 60mph before being taken for a literal spin by Graham’s son Craig in the single-seater Ferrari which has been specially adapted to carry a passenger.

Despite the unscheduled spin, a grinning Ben described the experience as “amazing.”

 

And after the confetti is cleared away, Ben is keen that Saturday’s drive will not be merely a pleasant memory as he is concentrating efforts on achieving a land speed record of 167mph—a record that Graham has pledged to help him achieve.